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In Part 1 we considered the context, character and purpose of apostolic ministry. God is renewing the foundation of the church in our day, not so that leaders can lead, but so that all the people of God can be released into the world to serve Him and to offer their lives as sacrifice to Him. The new temple the Lord is building is a people.
In Part 2 we considered Nehemiah as an example of an apostolic builder. "Wise master builders" are those who build, and don't merely bless. They have a fathering ministry, and pursue "presence" and not merely "power." They are interested not just in the walls, but in establishing firm foundations.
Now in Part 3 we'll consider the relational nature of leadership and apostolic ministry before considering authority more closely. Just as "the body" is the context of leadership, so "community" is the context of the apostolic. Furthermore, the clear purpose of service in the body, "to present every person mature in Christ," will provide a foundational contact point for our discussion.
From there we'll move on to discuss tentmaking as a biblical pattern and the need for a new way of thinking about the "center" of ministry and community.
The Stature of Christ
A few years ago I spoke with a man who had come to a turning point in his life. He was recognizing for the first time that he had spent some thirty odd years working for his father's approval. It seemed that nothing he did was ever good enough. Even though his father was a pastor who spoke often of the forgiveness and acceptance of God, he seemed to expect nothing less than perfection from his own son.
It is difficult to underestimate the impact of rejection or acceptance of one's parents on one's life. This need is so great that it carries on into adulthood and even forms the soil for new families. The hunger for affirmation can be passed on to many generations, creating workaholics, perfectionists, and obsessive and compulsive people. Many leaders are driven and compulsive perfectionists who are still trying to perform for a demanding father.
Todd Rutkowski in an unpublished manuscript proposes that the role of fathers is three-fold: to tell their children who they are, to give them a sense of security and belonging, and within that framework to offer a sense of destiny and purpose.
Gary Smalley and John Trent wrote of "the blessing." Every human heart cries out for acceptance and blessing. When this need goes unmet people may spend their lives hungering for love. When a child experiences real acceptance, however, they usually develop the inner resources to withstand the disapproval of others. In other words, they become self-directed people, able to give without reward and march to the beat of a different drummer.
As wounded people walk toward healing, they also walk toward release. No longer are leaders seen through a discolored lens of parental authority. The true call of leadership is not to set boundaries, but to bless. Boundaries must be set by the Lord, and internalized and made one's own. In healthy communities this works; in less healthy communities disciples forever seem like adult children, and leaders play the role of rule makers.
But what does all this have to do with the apostolic? After all, the gifted church is composed of adults, right? Surely we don't parent one another when we are in our twenties and thirties? Isn't that "patronizing?"
Authority and Its Purpose: Maturity
As we begin it's helpful to note the parallels between church and family. The goal of parenting in a family is ultimately release: to send children on their way as mature and healthy adults, who can then start their own family.
The goal of body life is similar: to present every person complete in Christ. The healthy Christian reproduces herself. The healthy church also reproduces itself. That is the nature of living things.
Research into healthy families has demonstrated that a climate of safety and trust produces healthy individuals. Due to differences in knowledge and status, parents are in a position of power over children. Likewise, leaders have power over those they lead. Power is defined as the ability to exercise influence over others. Good leadership, as good parenting, is the wise exercise of power.
The message of Jesus was that he came to give abundant life. He provided a model of power which was em-powering; his model of authority was service. His radical reply to the disciples who wanted to sit in positions of authority was, "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant." Jesus redefined the understanding of power by his teaching and actions in relating to others as a servant. He flatly rejected the use of power to control others, and affirmed it as a means of releasing others: to lift up the fallen, forgive the guilty, to encourage responsibility and maturity in the weak, and to give power to the powerless.
Every family has individuals at different stages of physical, emotional and spiritual development. In human families the goal of effective parenting is to bring children to maturity. The church family is no different. Maturity is defined as the capacity to be a servant to others. This requires real spirituality and the ability to love unconditionally. It demands that a person go beyond individualistic measures of maturity to an inter-dependency model. Abundant life is more than a self-centered life in which all of one's personal needs are met. It involves a meaning beyond the self. The gospel call to love, forgive and serve others is a call to extra-ordinary living.
The mature person is an empowerer. Empowerers help others become competent and capable persons who in turn will empower others. The goal of parenting is to create autonomous individuals who can leave home with confidence, making their own decisions and taking responsibility for their own successes and failures. Parental empowering is the affirmation of the child's ability to learn and to grow and to become all that they were meant to be in God's image and as part of His creative plan.
From a biblical perspective, empowering does not entail one gaining power at the expense of another. Such a "limited supply" view of power may work in the physical world, but is not true of God. When empowering the children of Israel, the Lord did not give up power, but rather offered it in unlimited supply. Jesus had authority and his power flowed from His person. A part of authority, whether in the church or the family, is the responsibility to lead others to maturity. The process of giving them power does not mean relinquishing God given authority, nor does it mean the loss of power, but rather authority and power that are given away is an expansion of the rule of God.
The goal of leadership is to work itself out of a job. Just as healthy children grow up and no longer need their parents, so healthy Christians, connected directly to the Head, no longer need human direction. Rather, they will themselves be discipling others as they get their instructions directly from the Top.
Effective leaders move beyond delegation to reproduce their own maturity in their disciples, where they then act more like coaches and consultants than as leaders.
According to the New Testament, Paul planted churches and then left them! Apostolic leaders don't hang around too long, since their multiple giftings can create unhealthy dependence. Where in healthy families children leave home, in healthy churches the church planters leave as God raises up local leaders, so that the "children" can experience their independence, which is their own healthy dependence on God and on one another.
Furthermore, dependence on any one of the five-fold gifts creates unhealthy church families. Wolfgang Simson comments:
If you leave a teacher to develop a church all by himself, he will built it around his unique gift of teaching, what else? He might either convert any church into a lecture hall, or plant bible schools or other teaching centers, which sometimes grow into impressive cathedrals, if he has the necessary speaking gifts. But often when the talented man leaves, the place falls apart. A teacher does not really lay foundations, but he explains them brilliantly. "Houses That Change the World," p.40
We need a developmental model of leadership and growth. When the church reaches a certain stage, new leaders should have been raised up, and the church planters should be moving on. Parents that stay with children forever foster dependency and stifle growth.
This is the problem that God describes to Samuel in 1 Samuel 8 when he says, "they have rejected me from being king over them." We are spiritually lazy. We often wish someone else could do the praying, teaching, counseling and disciplining for us. But this direction has stifled the growth of the kingdom.
It's easy to cultivate dependence; but mature leaders know when to leave. Bob Lund comments on the necessity of a mentoring mindset.
If a church does not have in its genetic code a mentoring mindset, leaders cause the swirl of activity to focus around them… The people will not mentor, disciple and impart to others. They will do the natural thing, which is to hand their friends and coverts to the church and expect the staff or pastor to deal with them. "The Way Church Ought to Be," p.252
This kind of bottleneck in ministry is created by leaders who have a strong need to remain at the center. Like unhealthy parents who need their children's dependence, they create unhealthy bodies that do not know how to release and empower disciples into service.
Where the primary function of elders is a nurturing function with individuals, apostles father churches and movements. Where elders focus on the trees then the forest, apostles see the forest then the trees. Apostles generally work from the "big" to the small.
Apostles are called to the local but also to the extra-local. As such apostleship is not a governmental calling, but tends to work more through a network of voluntary association.
In 1996 while in Australia Mike Phillips had a dream.
In the dream, I saw a huge tent that stretched around the world. It was not a tent like most people would think of a tent but rather merely the top of a tent with no side walls. We called this A 'dining fly' in my scouting days, years ago. I remember thinking how easy it would be to come under this tent for dining and fellowship because you could come and go from any direction. The top was shaped like the Bedouin tents in the Middle East. It was quite striking and caught my attention because I was perplexed as to how you could build a tent around a sphere shape.
I saw a close-up of the weave of the material of the tent. It was a closely-woven fabric of very strong natural fiber which had been rubbed with oil to make it water proof. The tent would swell with the breeze, but seemed very secure.
I asked the Lord, "What is this?" In the dream, He replied, "I am going to build a 'New Covering' over all of the earth. It will be based solely upon 'relationship' and not heavy authoritarian or sectarian structure." He then gave me the verse in Matthew 20:25, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. YET IT SHALL NOT BE SO AMONG YOU! (Emphasis, mine - meaning such authority is prohibited in the body of Christ) whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant."
I then felt the Lord say, "Authority and control which is similar to governments and nationalism in a secular context are prohibited in the Body of Christ! This 'New Covering' is the 'New Tabernacle' which is meant to be a 'Tent of Blessing.' Many people have already been called to come under it and dine together. They will be able to come in and go out as they please from any direction because THERE WILL BE NO WALLS. They can remain a part of their denominations and movements as they please because they will only be joined together here by a mutual sharing of covenant relationship. That was the close weave you saw that was rubbed with the oil of My Spirit. The reason I said I had not decided about America yet was because this will be very difficult for some Americans to come under. They will want to make it theirs and they will be bothered that it will not be centered in America nor have any perceptible central government. Therefore, if I call them, it will be last!"
He continued, "I never wanted to dwell in a heavy, rigid, organizational structure. I want to dwell in relationship. That is where I can command a blessing - Life evermore! (Psalms 133:3) In this 'New Tabernacle' you will not be able to say of those that come in , 'They are ours!' Nor will you say of those who go out, 'They are no longer with us!' But they will be free to come and dine as they please. If they go out from the tent for a season, you must still value them and accept them back if they decide to return. Relationship will keep them coming back for more. This is why I told you that this will be 'twenty times stronger than steel'.
It will be able to adjust and move in a strong wind without blowing away and it will be stronger than any organizational structure that has ever been even though the relational strength will not be as obvious as the organizational structure. I want you to give your life to help facilitate seeing this vision come to pass. The work has already begun all over the world in the hearts of many!"
Authority and its Center
The godly leader is not threatened by such visions of mutual ministry; rather, he or she is excited about giving away control. The more authority I give away, the more Christ's realm of authority expands and grows!
Paul's personal goal was "to know Him: the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering." That statement captures in a nutshell the heart of apostolic authority - it grows out of suffering servanthood.
There are many men and women today who would like to be called "apostles." The hallmark of their service will be not be their prosperity or their popularity, but their willingness to suffer for the sake of the kingdom and for God's people. Paul says that "we always carry about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be manifest in our mortal flesh."
One of the problems with current conceptions of authority is that we are used to defining the church within a certain circle. We work at clarifying who is in, who is out; what the leadership structure is to be and not to be; what we believe and do not believe; which activities belong, which do not; and what behavior is appropriate and what is not. So the line between insiders and outsiders is clearly drawn.
Paul Hiebert of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School calls this kind of thinking "bounded-set thinking." That is, there is a boundary that sets the standard. One either qualifies or is rejected; it's pass or fail. Jim Peterson in "Church Without Walls" advocates that we move from bounded-set thinking to what Hiebert refers to as "centered-set thinking" in our understanding of the church.
In a centered set, what counts is how each member is moving in relation to the center. The focus is upon the center, and each individual is in dynamic relationship to it. Belonging, in this case, is not a matter of performing according to an agreed-upon profile, it is a matter of living and acting out of commitment to a common center. The focus is on the center and on pointing people to that center. Process is more important than definitions. Centered-set thinking affirms initiatives that would otherwise not find a place. It rewards creativity.
It is not that bounded sets are always bad and centered sets are always good. Boundaries do exist. Salvation is a bounded set. One is either in Christ, or not in Christ. Discipleship is a centered set. To be a disciple is to be constantly moving toward the center, which is Christ.
What we are talking about can be visualized by the following diagram.
To view the church from the perspective of the centered-set model opens the possibility for recovering its fluidity, and therefore its mobility.
If we use this model, our understanding of what is the center must be very clear. The church is not that center. The center is the Head of the body. All members of the body are to function in relation to the center: Christ. If there is confusion on this point and we think of the church as being the center, we will find ourselves merely creating another bounded set.
If God's people are those who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who is transforming their character and giving them gifts they are to use in service in the world, then it is His empowerment that will determine our boundaries.
Apostles, Tentmaking and the Poor
The Apostle Paul was a tentmaker. It's hard to envision such a practice receiving validation in our world of big churches and senior pastors who are more like CEO's than like fathers.
Too often in our modern churches we pay lip service to the priestly call of every believer, but fail to implement this understanding in our practice. Instead, and particularly in charismatic circles, we center the life of the church around a few "anointed" leaders.
Sadly, we reinforce this misleading practice by paying a few professionals to do the ministry while "non-professionals" work at ordinary jobs. Inevitably, the "full time" priests are given a status and authority that those who work for a living are not given. There is not visible equality between paid leaders and unpaid leaders. Lacking visible equality, we reinforce the mindset that one type of ministry is more valuable than another, and disempower the people of God from a self-understanding of their priestly calling in the world. Could this be why even the Apostle Paul did not make use of his right as a father in the gospel and instead continued his work making tents?
In June of 1958, Gordon Cosby from the Church of the Savior was invited to participate in and to address a meeting of ministers held in Geneva, Switzerland. The subject was "world evangelism," and the following is an excerpt from his talk.
One order of ministry is not eternally more valuable than another. It is easy to absolutize the significance of one type of ministry and leave the feeling with many that they are second class members of the body, important only as extensions of official clergy. This I cannot accept.
One psychological reason for this may be the minister's inability to be one among a number of equally significant ministers. He may need to be the center of a revolving constellation. He may find it difficult to decrease while another increases. On the other hand, the layman may not really want the responsibility involved in an ordination as a lay minister of Christ and His church.
Of greatest importance is our own attitude…. Do we believe that the people in our congregation are as vital to the life of the Body as we are? Do we give lip service to the concept of the ministry of all believers while being seriously threatened by the reality of it when these ministries begin to emerge? These are not merely academic questions; there is real threat experienced as the circle of activities in which we excel gets smaller and smaller. Unless we see the ministry of the layman in our world to be as of great a significance as ours, we shall ever be tempted to use him as a lackey in our personal fulfillment.
The ordination of a lay person to a ministry in the world is much more than the recognition of significant activity. It means that the person knows him or herself to be grasped by God for a task that only they can do, and which the church must have done. Ordination means that the person's sense of call is confirmed by their own community. The world is a big place and its structures are tough to penetrate. It is good for the nonprofessional minister to discover specifically where he is to exercise his obedience.
The structures of the church must be geared to implementing this conception. This newness will not emerge because we are eager for it to happen. Nor will it come because we preach on the ministry of all believers. These ministries will emerge when the whole congregation is engaging in its ministry in the world and when the whole structure of the congregational life expresses this intention. When the structures thus express such an aim, a person in his first encounter with the church will sense that the church exists as a servant in the world….
Cosby suggests that we ordain lay persons into their ministry, whether inside the four walls or outside the walls. I'm not sure this is the best answer. Rather, we should perhaps avoid ordaining anyone and also avoid hiring clergy to do the work of the church, except in unusual cases or in response to the leading of the Lord. Too often those who are hired to do ministry become caught in the narrow world of the clergy and lose touch with the real world where most of us live and work. Even Catholic clergy recognize the problem.
"This is why we see that many men and women of faith who are inserted into the world of the laborer have found a new experience of God. In the experience of finding themselves alone and misunderstood, their soul is ripe for the fullness of God. In this simple experience, they feel themselves very small and yet open to value in a new way how God speaks to them through those with whom they stand together. They see that those people, the marginal ones, the oppressed, though not often believers, have something divine to tell them through their suffering, their oppression, their abandonment.
"Here one understands true poverty; one rediscovers awareness of one's own incapacity and ignorance; one opens one's soul to receive very profound instruction in the lives of the poor, taught by God Himself, by means of those rough faces, those half-ruined lives. It is a new face of Christ discovered in the little ones." Father Arrupe, General of the Jesuits in 1977
One argument against pastors or apostolic leaders taking "secular" jobs is that the work would not get done. But where did we ever get the idea that one person was supposed to do so much anyway? The work of ministry is to be shared by all believers (Ephesians 4). In "Biblical Eldership" Alexander Strauch comments on the real problem.
The real problem lies no in men's limited time and energy but in false ideas about work, Chrsitian living, life's priorities, and Christian ministry. To the Ephesian elders Paul said, "You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to them who were with me. In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:34,35)> How do working men shepherd the church yet maintain family life and employment? They do it by self-sacrifice, self-discipline, perseverance, hard work and the power of the Holy Spirit. (p.28).
I am particularly struck that Paul connects the poor and oppressed to his earning his living as a tentmaker. This is in stark contrast to our current church system where we import the Old Testament tithe into the New Testament in order to support an unbiblical system of professional clergy. Instead of using our limited resources to meet the needs of the poor and the working poor among us, we enable a few professionals to live in comfort. In effect, we become oppressors, robbing the people of God not only of resources but of their identity as true priests. Equally terrible, we rob the poor of desperately needed resources... all in the name of Christ.
Clearly, in Paul's discussion of giving in 2 Corinthians 8, the focus is on the needy, and not on support for a priestly class and a new temple. We are the temple, and we are all priests. Our resources are thus free to go where they are truly needed - not into mega theatres where we encourage the spectator sport of Christianity while only the superstars get to play the game.
Bob Lund addresses another question related to salaried ministry in "The Way Church Ought to Be." He comments that a common justification for the traditional approach is Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 9:14: "those who proclaim the gospel [should] get their living from the gospel." Bob asks, "who are the ones proclaiming the gospel?"
In western culture we only release professionals to do this. While we release the entire people of God in theory, our methods and gatherings proclaim another message. Bob goes on to talk about proclamation:
A study of every occurrence of the same Greek word for "proclaim" that occurs in 1 Cor. 9:14 shows that in every use of the word in the NT the reference is to one of delivering the gospel to the unbeliever. So, in the grand scheme of gifts, ministries and offices in the church who are the ones that the Bible declares are "proclaiming" the gospel? P.299 Bob answers his question that "every believer is to proclaim Jesus to others." Does this mean that all Christians should make their living from doing so? Obviously not. Rather, those in the New Testament who received support for ministry were those traveling around and planting churches. In essence, we have confused an apostolic calling with a call to local eldership. Yet even the greatest apostle did not use his right in the gospel, but rather supported himself to set an example for us to follow.
The impact of paying a few local and stationary brethren to perform ministry has been terrible. Bob lists a few of these:
A Christ centered leader: by Don Zimmer
+ Is not a simply a person called, elected, or employed in a position of authority, but a person who stands only as his or her own vulnerable self, committed to carrying the message that God loves not because of what we do or accomplish, but because of who God is.
+Leads in a radically different way, not on what the world values but in the footsteps of the servant leader, Jesus where the measure is not in what the leader does but in the answer to the question: "are the served becoming healthier, freer, wiser, more autonomous and more likely themselves to become servants?"
+ Claims relevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation that permits him or her entry into a deep solidarity with the anguish and pain underlying the glitter and hype that engulfs us and to bring the light of Jesus there.
+ Understands that the Gospel is best communicated to people through relationships where people can encounter the message at their points of anxiety and pain, shared interests, circumstances, and/or experience.
+ Is not simply well informed about the burning issues of our time, but first rooted in a permanent, intimate relationship with Jesus and finds there the source of his or her words of advice and guidance.
+ Just reclaim the time for quiet that Jesus repeatedly sought and have an ardent desire to dwell there.
+ Is called into the community of believers, and to discover there the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. He or she must be a full member of that community, accountable to it, in need of its affection and support, and committed to minister with his or her whole being including their "wounded selves".
+ Needs to be poor, prepared to journey with nothing but a staff. Being poor offers us the opportunity to allow ourselves to be served and led.
+ Seeks not to control but to use their power to grow others. This is not a leader who lacks spine but a one so deeply in love with Jesus that they are ready to follow him, trusting that they will find life and finds it abundantly
+ Is comfortable with power but chooses to use it to nurture growth in others and their organizations.
+ Must seek to listen to others as God listens to our deepest longings and in so doing help them to disclose and discover their createdness and redeemedness in new ways.
+ Recognizes that leadership does not rest in one person but in the many people of a community as they are gifted and the need requires. He or she seeks to help prepare others for leadership and to be an effective follower when others are called to step forward.
+ Knows that the only authority he or she has is that which others are willing to entrust to them save the authority to serve as Jesus served.
+ Understands that his or her leadership is finally stewardship, stewardship of the Gospel, stewardship of people, and stewardship of the resources that God so richly surrounds us with.
+ Understands people serve God through many organizations and he or she seeks to create the commitment to serve in each organization of which they are a part.
+ Is intimately rooted in the Biblical text and the sacraments. They are familiar and mysterious, a source of continued wonder and strength, faith and wisdom, hope and promise."
CONCLUSION
Change is often messy, and few of us like change. It is a challenge to all of us to release control and allow new ways of doing and being to arise. Leaders are needed to correct, protect, and direct as the entire people of God are equipped and released. In the first two centuries AD the church grew and spread like wild fire apart from buildings and programs because all God's people carried the good news. The modern house church movement is attempting to recover the dynamic of that day.
New wine requires new wineskins, otherwise the skins will burst and the wine is lost. The Lord Himself is bringing change to structures. His heart is to see all His people released to serve Him. Old structures are falling down and God is raising up a new generation of apostolic leaders and fathers who are not afraid to try new ways and walk without maps in dependence on the LORD.
We work in the physical world, but the weapons of our warfare are not earthly. Individualism is deadly; we need one another. It's interesting that the context of Zechariah 4:6 is the rebuilding of the Temple: "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD." The Lord will build His church!
One connection may be less obvious. Warfare is closely tied to the word, the word is the sword of the Spirit. By the Word of the Lord all creation came into being. All authority rests ultimately on the word of God. The Word and the Spirit must be held together.
Sanctify them in Thy truth; Thy word is truth… John 17:17
What is all of this "unto?" We could as easily ask, "Why the church?" Paul says that "God's plan is to unite all things in himself: things in heaven, and things on earth." He desires to pour out His love on all people, to show His glory in all creation, beginning with the church.
He was crucified because of weakness; He lives because of the power of God. I Cor.13:4
We live in an upside down kingdom, but don't always grasp this reality. God is working hard at changing that, and many of us are discovering that "when we are weak, then we are strong." It is at our point of weakness that Christ is revealed, and that we become open to the strength of others. In our weakness we discover community.
As God re-forges our hearts, he gradually entrusts us with ministry. Leaders who have learned to walk in weakness are more likely to also walk in power. I once heard a renewed Priest define the church: "the gathered weakness of man which becomes the gathered power of God." Or as Jim Wallis put it, "The principal less of community is that God breaks in at the weak places." As we walk in renewal, may we also learn to walk in the way of the Cross!
A fathering and apostolic anointing is currently being released in the church worldwide. No longer content with positional authority and mere outward conformity, leaders are beginning to walk in relational authority, with the fullness of servant hearts of love toward people. Increasingly leaders are looking for ways to release and empower others, so that together we may work to build the kingdom. No longer content with distant, formal and task oriented relationships, the heart of the Lord is to build a family and true brotherhood where mutual submission is the pattern.
Recently my wife and I met with two couples who will soon be involved in planting a local expression of the Vineyard in our city. As we spoke with them about community, ministry and the poor we realized that we were traveling the same road. We desperately need missional communities: the church often fails to be missional, and para-church organizations usually fail to express real community. We need to recover the full expression of the gospel in the radical middle.
May the Lord build His church! Come soon, Lord Jesus!
See also
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Emerging Women / Renovare / Christians for Biblical Equality / Soul Horizon / OpenSource Theology / Jesus Radicals / Regeneration / New Phuture / The Off Ramp / Cutting Edge / Relevant Magazine / The Living Room / Vine and Branches / Sacred Future / Church Next / Reality / Waves Church / Matthew's House / Ginkworld / FutureChurch / MethodX / TheOOZE / ginkworld / ::seven:: / emergent village / Highway Video / Sojourners / Ship of Fools / Beyond / Next-Wave / ThePowerSurge / dtour
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• © 2005 Len Hjalmarson.•
Last Updated on September 9, 2005
The Reformers left us with definitions of the church that are two dimensional. They describe the church universal, and they describe the local church. That's about it. The sad reality is that going to the lost, living Christlike lives among them and revealing Christ to them, is not in our ecclesiology. Jim Petersen, Church Without Walls, p. 119
